Montreal and Edmonton will collide in the 113th Grey Cup on Sunday with former Alouettes teammates at the controls for the Elks in Calgary.
Cody Fajardo will pilot Edmonton opposite Davis Alexander, Montreal’s quarterback and the CFL’s George Reed Most Outstanding Player. Fajardo rushed for over 500 yards to lead the league’s quarterbacks in rushing. Alexander passed for 5,257 yards, compiled a 72.1% completion rate and passed for 35 touchdowns and just four interceptions to lead Montreal (14-4) to the league’s best record.
Montreal returns to the Grey Cup stage after losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders 25-17 last November.
Fajardo has plenty of co-stars on offense for the Elks. Justin Rankin was the second-leading rusher in the CFL in 2026 with 1,170 yards, and the passing game features All-CFL wide receiver Austin Mack.
“It’s time to finish. There’s no excuse,” Montreal linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku said. “We fell short last year and it’s something I had to remind myself all offseason. And then we got together in May, ready to go to work, and we had one goal in mind, and that was the Grey Cup.”
Fajardo, 34, led Montreal to a Grey Cup in 2023, when expectations were a finish at or near the bottom of the league.
He was traded after the 2024 season and said this week part of the reason Montreal hit the reset button was his unwillingness to agree to a long-term commitment. The Alouettes pulled the trigger and moved Alexander, 28, to the QB1 role.
The decision has worked out for both sides.
This is the first time Edmonton won the West since 2015. Fajardo threw for a career-high 4,788 yards and 25 touchdowns. But Fajardo was the CFL’s eighth-highest-paid quarterback in 2026 at $400,000 and said he’s still taking his future on a year-to-year basis. That decision will be made with his wife after the title game.
“Body-wise, I can play five to seven more years,” Fajardo said. “I feel really good, my body feels great. But my wife sacrifices so much. I’ve been very honest and upfront about that.”
Stopping Alexander requires keeping his top target, Tyson Philpot, in check. That’s not likely based on his 2026 production. Philpot was named the Most Outstanding Canadian in the league with 124 receptions with 1,809 yards and 13 touchdowns in 16 games. Philpot finished second in the CFL’s MOP voting ahead of the third-place finisher, Fajardo.
But Edmonton has teeth on the defensive side of the ball, too.
The Elks led the CFL in fewest points allowed (437) and had 42 takeaways with 40 total sacks.
–Field Level Media
